Hunt
by Kathryn Shadow
Summary: Kagome," he whispered, scooping her into his arms and studying her face, praying for any sign of life, anything that would say she would make it through this.' Inuyasha/Kagome. 42nd story! -throws towel in air- On semi-permanent hiatus; sorry, guys.
1. Chapter 1

My first attempt at an Inuyasha fic (besides the crossover that Seacarda Fox Shadow and I are working on), so... -crosses fingers-

**Disclaimer: **I own InuYasha just as much as I own Doctor Who. Which, for those of you who haven't read my Doctor Who stuff (shame on you), is basically nil.

-BAD WOLF-

He bounded across the landscape, a flash of red and white incongruous against the stark black rocks, slippery with the fluid that had spurted out of the creature he had just slain. Kagome's cry of anguish still reverberated in his sensitive ears, the stench of her wounds heady in the air around him, and it fuelled him. He needed to get to her, make sure she was okay.

When he found her, it felt suspiciously like a large part of his chest was suddenly not there any more— and he knew _that_ feeling all too well. It wasn't usually metaphorical, though.

Her broken form was lying, limp as a rag doll, on the sharp edges of the shattered rocks. She was nearly torn in half; her fragile body had been no match for their enemy's cruel talons. Her crimson lifeblood ran out on the unfeeling ground; she weakly clutched the Shikon shard she had sacrificed herself to retrieve and for a terrifying moment Inuyasha feared he was too late even to say good-bye.

"Kagome," he whispered, scooping her into his arms and studying her face, praying for any sign of life, anything that would say she would make it through this. She had to make it. She couldn't die.

Her eyelids fluttered open. "Inuyasha," she croaked. "You're crying."

"Am not," he said testily, instinctively arguing even though he knew she was right. He could feel the tears coursing down his cheeks, burning him.

She smiled a bit at that. He could feel warm, viscous liquid soaking through his clothes to drench his skin; she didn't have much time left.

"Inuyasha—"

"Don't," he interrupted sharply. "No speeches. You are _not _dying on me, you hear me?"

She chuckled. It turned into a cough, and blood stained her lips. He could feel her heart fluttering against his right palm from where it rested on her back— slower, slower, the pulse throbbed.

And then... it stopped.

He waited for what felt like an eternity for her heart to beat again, but it remained sedentary in her chest. Anguish tore through him, more intense than he had ever known, and he held her dead body close. The bitterly metallic stench of her blood filled his nostrils, dancing across his tongue.

He tightened his hold on her, his claws digging into her rapidly cooling flesh. This couldn't be happening. He'd wake up in a minute, he knew he would. He just had to wait.

He waited, and nothing happened.

So this was a particularly persistent dream, then. He reached up with his hands to claw at his face, tearing gaping rends in his own skin so that his dark blood streaked down his pale flesh, mingling with the bitter tears he shed for the dead Kagome. He felt the pain, felt the warmth of his own blood pouring down, and knew that this wasn't his imagination.

For a moment all he knew was agony, but then...

His eyes narrowed, his hold on her tightening again as flames licked across his vision. He felt his fangs and claws lengthen, his eyesight intensify, painted in shades of blood.

With a growl he dropped the girl, pulling himself up to his full height. The wind whipped at him, flinging dust into his self-inflicted wounds as he threw back his head and _screamed._

_"KAGOME!!"_

-BAD WOLF-

Good? Bad? Ugly?


	2. Chapter 2

Wowee zappo. Could you convince my Doctor Who readers to respond so quickly and so much? Thanks. .

**Disclaimer: **Chibi!Sesshomaru's been chewing on my leg because I've been giving chibi!Inuyasha all the jelly babies, but does that let me own InuYasha? 'Course not.

SIAPNIAN: Lookit me, I'm a noob! :D

**WARNING: **Un-betad.

-BAD WOLF-

He was running. He didn't know why, he just knew he had to run, run forever. Maybe if he ran quickly enough he could erase the image of Kagome from his mind. Maybe if he ran, the pain would stop, and the rage.

A few months ago he would have just shrugged and wandered off to complete the quest on his own. What was different? What had changed? He didn't even react this badly when he learned Kikyo was dead. Kagome was basically Kikyo, wasn't she? So what was so different about them? Why could he handle Kikyo's death (but not her coming back; that was just too weird) perfectly well, but broke down at Kagome's?

"I'm not breaking down," he snapped at himself.

His face itched where his blood had dried on his skin, crimson tears marking out his grief. The lacerations were almost closed now, of course; he wished they wouldn't. The pain gave him something to dwell on besides Kagome's broken body lying all on her own.

The Shikon shard she had been holding bit into his hand and he flinched as the jagged edge tore into his palm. He should use it, came the dim thought. Become a pureblood, finally escape the curse that had been hanging over him since his unusual birth. He'd always wanted that, hadn't he? So why couldn't he bring himself to do it?

She'd not wanted him to change. She'd wanted him to stay just as he was, an orphaned half-breed outcast. Did she still have that vague power over him even now?

His necklace hung around his neck as if it were made of boulders, refusing to warm against his skin, the power which had always thrummed rhythmically through it gone, silent, dead. There was a time when he would have killed Kagome without a single thought, left her body without a backwards glance, just to get the thing off of his neck, but now? He almost wished she'd show up and say The Word. A great deal of him would hurt quite a bit for some time afterwards, but at least she'd still be there to ruthlessly torment him.

He shook himself. What was he doing? He didn't need Kagome. What was all this ranting about that damned necklace? He hated it when she did that. Hated it. Why did he want it now?

Because Kagome would be there, said part of him patiently. She would still be alive.

Shippo had probably come across her body by now. Maybe he had been killed with her, lying just a few feet away. Maybe somewhere out there there was a tattered child's body, bushy tail drenched in red.

Did it matter?

_Kagome, _a part of him whimpered. His gaze hardened. He would not break down. She was just a girl. A _human _girl. He knew people who ate people like her for lunch.

Used to know. He killed them all.

To defend her.

This wasn't helping.

A splinter of the jewel he held in his tightly clenched hand broke off, embedding itself in his flesh, and he hissed in pain. He should use it. Kagome didn't matter. She...

The human part of him shrieked defiance at that and that train of thought abruptly ended.

He just knew he had to keep running. Perhaps he could outrun her spirit if it came to bid him farewell.

Perhaps he would outrun his humanity, let that part of him die with Kagome, so he could get on with...

...What was there to get on with now? He knew he should be doing something. What was it?

A forest loomed in the distance and was suddenly before him; he didn't bother slowing down, didn't bother dodging, just carried on running as quickly as thought. Twigs whipped at him, tangling in his hair, pulling at his clothes, tearing rends in his exposed skin.

It didn't matter.

His side burned. He gasped for breath and that only made it worse. His vision clouded, though he didn't know why. He felt fresh dampness course down his cheeks and told himself it was blood.

He was barely aware of something large and brown speeding towards him before it struck him.

There was pain for a moment, and then everything went completely, mercifully black.

-BAD WOLF-

"Lord Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha wanted to say something rude, but he couldn't even open his eyes. Why couldn't he open his eyes? He tried to reach up and touch his face and found that it was a distinctly odd shape. It hurt like hell, too, and his hand dropped back to the ground.

"What happened?"

"Shut up," he croaked, sitting upright. "I'm not in the mood for this."

"Where is Kagome?"

"I said SHUT UP!" He lashed out, crushing the flea to the ground. There was a little squeak, then silence. Inuyasha's claws cut into his palm and he unclenched his hand, extracting the talon-like nails from the punctures, before getting up with infinite grace. He scratched at his eyelids a little; dried blood flaked off and he blinked, vision slowly clearing, although the headache remained. The forest rudely tipped and spun at him and he growled at it to stop.

It didn't.

He glanced at his hands, the Shikon still embedded in his palm, the laceration oozing blood. Why hadn't it been absorbed already? It should be long gone; its power should be coursing through him. But there it was, calmly sitting in the rend in his flesh.

He picked it out and studied it in the half-light. It glittered, crystalline, where it wasn't stained crimson.

Half of the blood was Kagome's.

He snapped his hand shut over the shard, unwilling to be reminded of how he had found her. New wounds were added to his growing collection, but he barely noticed the pain now.

"Lord Inuyasha—"

"She's dead, okay?" he snapped. "Now leave me alone."

He made to walk away. Pain stabbed through his left leg and he limped a little, but at least he could walk.

"Lord Inuyasha, it is far from impossible to bring her back from the land of the dead."

Inuyasha froze, one foot in mid-air. He lowered it to the ground, turning to stare at the flea.

"For instance, your brother—"

Brother. Sesshomaru.

Rin.

_Tenseiga._

The pain in his side, the tears in his skin, the bruises all over him, were all forgotten in an instant.

Inuyasha started running.

-BAD WOLF-

Does it suck yet?

If I said any sort of anything against canon, tell me and I'll fix it. If I can't fix it, call it AU.

By the way, since (for some reason) this is getting more attention than I thought it would ever get, my sister Seacarda Fox Shadow and I are working on an Inuyasha/Doctor Who crossover. And yes, I know that hardly any of you know what the hell Doctor Who is, much less that it exists in the first place, but it is Seacarda's first story and she would REALLY love some feedback. Which, might I add, a grand total of one person gave her. So if you could... go over there... that would make her very happy.

Thanks for reading the demented products of my imagination!


	3. Chapter 3

Vrrn!

**Disclaimer: **Aww, do I have to say it again? -whines-

SIAPNIAN: Wow... This was supposed to be a quick little character study so that Seacarda wouldn't have to keep correcting Inuyasha's behaviour over on the collaborative fic... it... kinda grew...

I love you guys. :)

-BAD WOLF-

Rational thought kicked in eventually, despite Inuyasha's instinct not to stop until Kagome was back.

Stop for a bit, said Rational Thought. Wait until you're properly healed or you might not get her back.

Instinct told him to keep running. He was rather inclined to follow Instinct, all things considered.

His muscles, on the other hand, agreed with Rational Thought and promptly gave out when he ignored them.

As he crashed unceremoniously to the ground for about the fifth time that day, he decided he rather liked Rational Thought's idea.

At least, as long as he wasn't resting uncomfortably face-down in some very bad-tasting dirt.

He pushed himself up a little and crawled to a tree, resting his back against it as he gasped for breath. He hadn't run that far, or that fast, in centuries. Maybe never. He wasn't sure; everything seemed a little muddy.

His amber eyes slipped shut.

It occurred to him didn't even know where his brother was. He could sense the faintest tang in the air, but he wasn't sure where it was coming from or even if he was just imagining it.

What if Tenseiga didn't work? He assumed there was a time limit of some kind. There was probably a guard against being wielded by anyone but Sesshomaru himself.

Oh, and then there was the problem of Sesshomaru. As much as Inuyasha hated to admit it, he wasn't exactly small fry, and the hanyou doubted he'd just give up the sword.

He hissed a little, one fist clenching. If his brother wouldn't let him have the sword, he'd take it from him by force or be killed. Either option was good as far as Inuyasha was concerned.

He tapped his fingers on the ground as he waited. It'd take an hour or so for the majority of his myriad wounds to close up properly, perhaps two for him to regain enough strength to seek Sesshomaru out and beat the crap out of him. That wasn't the problem. The problem was, of course, that Inuyasha was notoriously bad at waiting.

A growl vibrated in his throat. This was impossible; he wouldn't be able to wait that long. Kagome wouldn't be able to wait that long. It might have been to late for her already; he should get up and start running now. He could run on adrenaline if he had to, and he could heal while he searched; Kagome wouldn't be able to hold on for long enough.

He pushed himself to his feet. The sudden movement made his head throb and the world spin.

He miraculously had enough sense to sit down again just before awareness left him.

-BAD WOLF-

The moment he opened his eyes, he cursed expressively and at great length, no longer afraid of any form of command for the not entirely polite or generally acceptable behaviour.

How long had he been asleep?

He felt his face. It was the same shape it generally was, and when he prodded the area of the gashes he himself had torn, there was no pain. Nothing, although his claws had gone all the way down to bone.

All that was left was a mixture of dry blood mixed with dirt, slowly flaking off in the wind.

He growled and got to his feet, inhaling deeply. A sharp tang stung his sensitive nose; he was in luck.

He started running again, following the scent of his hated brother. He wanted so badly to run like he had before, not caring how much he hurt himself with his recklessness, but he couldn't do that now. Kagome needed him. He wasn't an idiot, whatever anyone else might say; he knew that Sesshomaru wouldn't be easy to subdue.

He crooked his fingers, making the joints crack, an insane smile crossing his lips as he envisioned the youkai's blood staining the earth, his body torn apart by tooth, claw and Tessaiga.

Tenseiga would be his, whatever it took.

-BAD WOLF-

Sesshomaru gazed dispassionately up at the sky, amber eyes glinting a little in the light, the warm colour a vivid contrast to the unnerving chill of his unmoving expression.

Inuyasha was coming, he could smell the stink of him on the wind, followed by the beautiful scent of so much blood. Not all of it was his own; he could smell... He could smell the girl in the blood, the miko child, but the stench was stale and existed only in the tang of spilt crimson.

Inuyasha was coming, alone, drenched in the blood of his precious human companion.

The youkai might have smiled had he allowed himself to express such base emotion. Alone, weak and terrified, the hanyou would be easy to catch and subdue, especially if the miko really was dead. The cold calculation of protection would be gone, stripped away, replaced with blinding rage. Careless fury, flailing attacks, just like when they were pups.

He just had to wait. He was good at waiting.

He didn't have to wait long.

The sharp bitterness of disturbed earth sank into his nostrils, the shuffling sound of someone clumsily sliding in the dust fell upon his sharply pointed ears, and Sesshomaru blinked up at the sky.

"Inuyasha," he acknowledged, voice dripping in false amiability. "How wonderful it is to see you again so soon."

"Let's just skip the chitchat," snarled Inuyasha abrasively. Sesshomaru had been right; he _was _enraged. Irrational. "I've come for one thing only. Now hand over Tenseiga and I might let you off easy."

"Tenseiga?" Sesshomaru turned to face his brother. "What could be so bad that Inuyasha is pulled away from his puny quest to demand a sword to raise the dead?" He returned to a faint sneer, expertly schooling his face into the expression while carefully maintaining complete emotionlessness in his mind, provoking Inuyasha while staying calm himself.

"Perhaps his precious mortal could not be protected by Tessaiga at last," he finished, the final blow.

"You leave Kagome out of this," growled the hanyou between tightly clenched teeth, whipping Tessaiga from its sheath, body tense with anger, eyes blazing in rage.

A spark of pleasure resounded in Sesshomaru's heart as he witnessed the effect of the nerve he had found. He quickly crushed the emotion, but was unable to keep from utilising the subject for his advantage.

"Your cries could be heard all the way down to the Underworld," he lied, getting up, fingers hooked in preparation, claws glinting in the light. "Shall I put you out of your misery, dear brother?"

"You're the one who's going to be in misery," retorted Inuyasha, and then he pounced.

Sesshomaru was almost surprised by the ferocity of the attack. One second the hanyou was twenty feet away, the next he was right before him, Tessaiga dangling in the air above their heads.

Sesshomaru calmly sidestepped and Inuyasha crashed unceremoniously to the ground.

"Your technique still hasn't changed, I see," he said dispassionately, standing straight and cool as the wind caressed his skin.

His brother's head snapped up, teeth bared in anger and a deep pain that wasn't physical. Sesshomaru's cold eyes flickered over the blood coating his brother, streaks of crimson and brown trickling from the forehead downwards, across his temples, down from his eyes, blood and tears and dirt mingling in a dried crust on his skin.

Deep inside himself, Sesshomaru knew the damage had been self-inflicted, and he was almost amused at the knowledge. Like father, like son, falling victim to useless emotions for stupid mortals.

Blood stained his clothes, too, the silky scarlet material stiff and browned with the residue. Some of it was Inuyasha's, some was that miko's. Mingling, melding together, united only in death.

Far be it from Sesshomaru to keep them apart.

Inuyasha charged again, screaming, howling his rage and anguish. Sesshomaru went to meet him, claws bared, lips parted to show fangs which gleamed in the sunlight.

They collided.

Sesshomaru's claws swiped a trail across his brother's neck; pain flared in his chest as Tessaiga dug into his flesh. Irritated, he pulled away, surreptitiously checking for damage.

Shallow, but long. The glancing blow had stripped skin from his sternum to his side, flesh which now dangled oddly. It wasn't deep, though; he would be fine in a day or so.

Inuyasha, on the other hand...

He leaned heavily on Tessaiga, panting, eyes glazing over as Sesshomaru's venom took its toll. Blood dripped from the wound in his throat, a gash which had narrowly missed being fatal on its own.

No matter. There would be other chances.

Sesshomaru went in for the kill.

A growl was torn from Inuyasha's throat; he straightened up, fingers spasmodically gripping the handle of his sword.

He flung it away.

Despite himself, Sesshomaru's eyes widened in surprise.

Inuyasha's eyelids slid shut for a moment, his hands clenched into fists. His ears twitched, body tensing as the human scent was ripped away from the hanyou. His eyes snapped open, blood-red. Purple streaks zigzagged like lightning bolts across his cheekbones. His claws grew, his fangs lengthened, becoming too long to be ensconced in his mouth, poking out between his lips. The growl deepened until it became a roar, and the transformed hanyou propelled himself away from the ground, leaping for his brother.

They collided in midair and Sesshomaru was caught off-guard. Rage in an opponent was good, but this... This was...

This was not rage. This was nothing.

Inuyasha's talons dug into Sesshomaru's skin, his fangs piercing the unguarded flesh of his neck, bleeding, bleeding. The youkai tried to kick him off, twist as they fell, but his brother howled and clawed at him, tearing at him with tooth and talon in that unidentifiable emotion.

Sesshomaru's back struck the ground, stealing breath from his lungs. Inuyasha ripped his teeth from his brother's throat, tearing a chunk of flesh away, and he _laughed._

_Laughed._

The hysterical notes tumbled over and over each other, madness resonating in the air. Sesshomaru felt dizzy; what was happening? How had he been beaten? How had...

Inuyasha's laugh turned into a shriek of triumph, echoing across the rocks and throbbing in Sesshomaru's sensitive ears.

And then everything was silent.

Inuyasha was still, tense, eyes closed, still kneeling on Sesshomaru's chest with his claws half-embedded in his skin.

A single whispering word slid through the air, the syllables caressed by the lips that formed them.

_"Kagome."_

The claws became shorter, duller. The purple lightning-bolts vanished. The fangs retreated under Inuyasha's lips.

When the hanyou opened his eyes, they were clear, the same shade of amber as Sesshomaru's own.

Through eyes blurred with his own blood, the youkai saw his brother's fingers wrap around the hilt of Tenseiga.

And then blackness swam over his vision and he knew no more.

-BAD WOLF-

Hope that was satisfactory... -crosses fingers-

At any rate, it was longer.

Oh, and chibi!Sesshomaru says you had better review, especially after I made his brother completely pwn him to appease you. I think you should probably obey. -winces-


End file.
